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One of the best tools for measuring your commitment and understanding of the micro-blogging power Twitter.com comes from social media marketing superstar Rohit Bhargava the inventor of Social Media Optimization. In his article “The 5 Stages of Twitter Acceptance” Rohit has brilliantly and accurately outlined the evolution of many Twitter users. The graphic clearly highlights each stage and it acts as a measuring tool to those who have progressed forward in their acceptance.

1. Denial: One of my first blog posts of the summer of 2007 was to challenge Twitter’s validity as a tool-I instead described it ” Twitter becomes the equivilent of your well meaning but very nosy “Italian Grandmother.”

2.Presence: I simply went through the motions

3. Dumping: I inundated twitter with MY BLOG POSTS only a big no-no on any social networking site

4. Conversing: I reached the conversing stage 6 weeks ago as I really began to understand Twitter’s power 4 months ago. In this stage I knew I was progressing but I also knew something was missing-I was not a go-to objective source of information

5. Microblogging: I am now authentically building relationships 1×1, I am bringing in valuable information to the mix for other twitterers to ponder, and I am far more objective and willing to support the community

In another example of mainstream media adopting a Web 2.0 social media tool for instant breaking news coverage, the San Jose Mercury news announced today that they are looking to partner with Twitterers who are attending the historic Obama inauguration ceremony. Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media sites; Twitter allows users to “broadcast” mini press release 140 character messages. It is a vital breaking news tool for both the mass media and the growing blogosphere. Thank you to Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter, for the tip that led to this article.

The Offer

The San Jose Mercury news offer is exposure for any Twitterer attending the inauguration:

1. Exposure Offer #1: According to the paper “You could have your tweets (messages) seen by thousands of Mercurynews.com readers.”

Tip: The “Merc” is asking for a short itinary of your plans for inauguration day. If I were attending, I send in my itinary and make sure it was compelling, interesting, and provided the most exposure for the newspaper.

2. Exposure Offer #2: If you are chosen to “work with” them your Tweets “could be published in the paper.”

Tip: The San Jose Mercury news is the driving force for business news, at the newspaper level, in Silicon Valley. In order for you to have your tweets chosen for publication, I would suggest this approach. Consider the most interesting factors at the inauguration and tweet about them. Identify the historical surroundings, describe the energy, compare it to MLK’s famous speech, be observant of any “celebrities” in the crowd, and provide any breaking news if you can catch it.

One of the most effective marketing professionals happens to be a nationally recognized hyper local blogger by the name of John Harper aka theharperteam.com. One of John’s strategies is to utilize Press Releases to maximize the reach and viral power of his web-blog site. John utilizes a site called I-newswire.com. The following tip provides benefits to any small business, entrepreneur, organization, non profit, charity, public relations officer, or giant corporation.

What is I-Newswire.com?

I-Newswire is press release aggregator. Simply put they allow you to write a press release on almost any subject, submit your release to their network, and then push your message out to a vast network of media websites around the globe

Note: A good press release IS NOT a sales pitch for you, a listing of a property, or something that sounds like a self serving message. Like the blogoshpere, the tone of a press release needs to be valuable, informative, relevant

What Are The Benefits?

1. I-Newswire.com: press releases are seen on hundreds of news websites such as PressRadar.com.

According to I-Newswire.com:

“We are not able to track the exact reach because most of the outlets obtain our releases automatically using our XML feed at http://www.i-newswire.com/xml.php. In addition, your press release is hosted as a webpage on our site, and will be indexed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo, giving you additional exposure.

2. Journalist and Editors: these are the people who visit I-Newswire on a daily basis looking for newsworthy information.

3. Exposure: I-newswire.com has an Alexa.com ranking of 72,434 worldwide. Similarly ranked sites have in excess of 3,000 visitors per day and 20,000 pages views per week–that’s power

4. Press Release Writers: a best of breed listing of press release writers are available if you are not confident in your ability to produce your own. To acces this go to data bank pr-firms on the site

Strategy

This strategy is all about bringing readers to your website or blog. One of the best methods to bring fresh new readership is to make news yourself, report breaking news, or report breaking news (news that happened within a day or two) with your analysis and solution

Example Scenario

You are a realtor specializing in foreclosures. Your area is full of foreclosures and a Nationally syndicated news agencies writes a story on the state of foreclosures and investors waiting in the wings.

1. Take this article and make an aggressive headline announcement. Ex- “Foreclosure Market Saving Realtor Jobs.”

2. Write a short succinct few sentences about the core message of the media article

3. Use your succinct few sentences on the media article as the lead-in to how Realtor jobs are being saved by the added business that investors represent in your market

4. Offer a free pdf or podcastthat provides a market report for your city or region’s foreclosure market and describe your free giveaway as a tool for investors or Realtors from other regions

5. Point readers to your website or blog in order to receive their free pdf or podcast “bonus”

Analysis

Small business owners are discovering that they can write multiple press releases about current events that relate to their niche or speciality. They then can leverage their knowledge, free information, or bonus as a method to give readers added value while bringing awareness to their website-blog.